Not every exploit is reliable. Sometimes you have checked your exploit very carefully, and they have something ever so slightly different. Some exploits are very reliable or simple and take no work or jiggling of the handle (like IIS Unicode/Code Red.) It just worked. The fact that he walked in and threw down on Safari, means it is probably a reliable exploit.

I don't know how long it took for the other exploits, it may be telling if we find out. I'm guessing it wasn't 10 seconds for the others. If it was, the headline would be everything pwned in 30 seconds! The IE/Windows 7 exploit was described as brilliant I think, which may mean it was not easy, or quick to execute. It may have taken several delicate steps to get access.